Thanks, Dafydd, for the follow-up. I think the problem may have been I was not clear with what I meant. I am recording tv shows onto a DVD+RW disc. I then capture the shows from the disc to my computer using PD 6. Most of the time, the capture goes without incident and the video is transferred as it was recorded as one unit (whether it be 30 minutes or two hours). Here of late, however, PD 6 has been crashing quite a bit (about one in four times on the opening of an old project or one in two if I am editing a new clip that I just captured). The tell-tale signs of the crash are the computer goes into a ponderous thinking mode where nothing happens but a lot of "data crunching" within the CPU. What most easily triggers this crunching mode is when the clip first pops onto the edit screen and automatically loads into the timeline. The audio is not there yet, but the video is. If I use the arrow keys under the on-screen program monitor to fine tune a starting point before the program has a chance to do whatever it thinks it needs to do, PD crashes. I have been deliberately trying to give the program and machine a chance to catch up to itself before I try any editing operations, but the crash happens anyway. No idea why. I lose whatever was on screen, and I have to start over. When I load the clip from the file without having to transfer from the capture screen, I usually have much better success with all operations. So, I am thinking there is something in the process between the capture and edit screens that is eating up a lot a memory or something that causes the crash when I try to perform initial duration editing. I do have crashes similar to this during the editing process (almost always when I deal with trimming), usually when I use the arrow keys too quickly, but they are not as frequent.
As to the merging of clips, it is related to this transfer between capture and edit. On the capture screen, the video clip shows as one solid piece of video without any drops or errors. But when it transfers and crashes, the video splits into two pieces. I do not know if this is what caused the crash where the program cannot read something or if the crash causes the split, but the second clip is usually a splinter of the original averaging around 470 mb. Further, when the crash occurs immediately after transferring the video from capture to edit, 9 out of 10 times I will have this splinter clip. I do not think the problem is my recorder as I have recorded many programs without error and the feature that divides the clip into segments is disabled. The problem is also not related to the brand or individual disc as I only use quality disc names and I have been marking discs where video is dropped or this error occurs. The pattern is not consistent. The splinter clip lines up with the main clip, but when they play thru, there is an obvious momentary burp in the video and audio where the clips join. I did not think of it until now, but I will try to recapture from the next disc where this occurs to see if the data is corrupted from the disc prior to the capture. At any rate, I now have several videos that have splinter clips. I cannot extend the clip with the feature you describe as the program does not "see" one clip segmented into two where both are complete with parts hidden, but rather two separate complete clips adjacent to each other that are represented in their entirety. I was hoping there was a merge command that could fuse the clips together where the burp would not be seen or heard.
Hope I have not fatigued you into tears yet. Does my explanation make sense?
Jim
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Mar 28. 2008 14:42